Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Caribbean Development Trends

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agribusiness
    • Antigua and Barbuda
    • Barbados
    • BehaviorChange
    • Belize
    • Bermuda
    • biodiversity
    • Blockchain
    • Caribbean
    • Caribbean Culture and Media
    • Climate Change
    • Creative Economy
    • Crime Prevention and Citizen Security
    • Data and Knowledge
    • De-risking
    • Dominica
    • Dutch
    • Early Childhood Development
    • Economic Growth
    • Education Policy
    • energy
    • entrepreneurship
    • Environmental and Climate Change
    • Events
    • Extractives
    • Finance
    • Fiscal Rules
    • gender
    • Governance and Regulatory Policy Reforms
    • Grenada
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Health
    • Health Policy
    • Hurricane
    • Hurricane Irma
    • infrastructure
    • Innovation and change
    • Intellectual Property
    • IWD
    • Jamaica
    • JumpCaribbean
    • Labor
    • Labour Markets
    • MOOC
    • Music
    • Natural Disasters
    • Nurturing Institutions
    • OECS
    • Podcast
    • Poverty
    • Private Sector and Entrepreneurship
    • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Lucia
    • Saint Vincent and Grenadines
    • skills
    • Sports for Development
    • Suriname
    • Technology
    • The Bahamas
    • The Blue Economy
    • Transportation
    • Tourism
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Uncategorized
    • VAWG
    • Webinar
    • women
    • Women for Change
    • youth
  • Country Offices
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Press Releases
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Authors

Crime in Paradise: Preview of Forthcoming IDB Study on Crime in the Caribbean

April 1, 2016 by Heather Sutton Leave a Comment


As in other parts of the LAC region, crime and violence have deeply negative effects on businesses and individuals in the Caribbean. The IDB has supported data generation in the region using victimization surveys for individuals and businesses, the highlights of which are presented in this month’s quarterly bulletin with a special focus on crime.

This bulletin provides a preview of some key highlights from a forthcoming IDB study using new data on victimization of individuals and businesses to provide a more complete picture of crime and violence in the region. The bulletin provides a regional overview and country specific crime profiles.

Key takeaways for the region include:

  • Crime strongly affects persons in the Caribbean. 40% of the Caribbean population identified crime and security-related issues as the main problems facing their country in 2014/2015, even above poverty, the economy or inequality.
  • Crime is significantly associated with reduced economic growth. One of the channels through which crime can effect growth is through its impact on the private sector. We find that crime does have a significant impact on firms in the Caribbean region.
  • The defining characteristic of crime in the region is the uniquely high level of violent crime. Victimization surveys show particularly high levels of assault/threat in the Caribbean, often with the use of guns. The region experiences medium levels of property crime in comparison to international capital city averages.
  • Victimization rates were generally higher in capital metropolitan areas than at the national level. However, the concentration in capital cities seems somewhat less pronounced in the Caribbean than in other world regions.
  • The Bahamas (New Providence) and Jamaica (Kingston Metropolitan Area) stand out with the highest levels of violent crime. In Trinidad and Tobago (Port of Spain Metropolitan Area) the levels of robbery and vehicle theft were also comparatively high for the region. Suriname (Paramaribo) and Barbados (Greater Bridgetown Area) show significantly lower rates in nearly all crimes.

 


Filed Under: Economy & Investment, Social Systems Tagged With: Bahamas, Barbados, crime, crime prevention, IDB study, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobado, Trinidad y Tobago, violent crime

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

Similar posts

  • Do socio-demographic factors explain high violent crime in the Caribbean?
  • Could everything we think we know about crime be wrong?
  • Who is most likely to be a victim of crime in the Caribbean?
  • Is Crime in the Caribbean Unique?
  • What is missing from police crime statistics?

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube